I flew KOA-SJC on Alaska 876 on 26 July 2013. We did two go-arounds so I pulled up the audio to see what happened. KSJC was operating only 30L and it seemed there was some separation issues. The AS 876 pilots were clearly not pleased. On the 3rd try, the tower held all departures until we landed.

Unfortunately, the tower side of the conversation cannot be heard. But, the pilot communications are quite clear and include some pretty harsh language.

"We're done with this, we gotta get in the next time", "You're kidding", "We need a frequency - NOW", "We need a different tower controller", "Don't have time for this", "I'm going to make it a little wider guys"

I included some other relevant communications (ground communications, a possible pilot deviation, etc). This is my first audio file so hopefully it works.

I don't understand why they decided to be so rude with NORCAL, who has nothing to do with the situation. In the first attempt they were 14 miles out, the second 12 miles out. When they tell NORCAL "And you're not gonna turn me in too tight," after a 14 and 12 miles final?

IMO there are better ways to handle things with tower than yelling on the frequency.

Not a pilot or ATC, but the "No you don't" was the only "yelling" I heard directed at NORCAL, though definitions of "yelling' vary widely. OTOH, I don't understand the "we gotta get in the next time". If they had a fuel issue, there are well defined procedures for declaring this.

I believe they were only short of patience, not fuel. It's not clear from just the audio what the actual spacing was, but for round 1 it sounds like they were given 180 kts and following a Citation at 160 kts, with something like 5 miles spacing? Sounds a little tight to be launching a departure between those two arrivals! Less clear what happened the second round, but I can imagine the frustration watching yet another aircraft cleared for takeoff when he's on short final, if in fact that's what happened. I didn't hear any "yelling" either - more like "professional frustration". Well, maybe right on the edge...

This is just speculation, but according to FlightAware, they were given the LOUPE ONE departure, so they probably should have leveled at 5000. The track log (one minute samples) shows them still climbing at 5100', but then at 4200' a minute later (probably after given the "descend immediately to 4000"). So, possibly they blew through their altitude on the departure, which would have prompted "possible pilot deviation, call ..." from NORCAL.

So, possibly they blew through their altitude on the departure, which would have prompted "possible pilot deviation, call ..." from NORCAL.

re: N26GP

Look at their track on flightaware. At time 17:30 on the KSJC-Dep archive you can hear N26GP check in with Departure and report "2.7 climbing for 5", then at 18:45 (75 seconds later) they ask "do you want a heading of 300", at which point the controller gives them an immediate right turn to heading 090.

The LOUPE1 departure specifies climb runway heading to 1.8 DME from the SJC VOR then turn right to heading 120. It would appear from their flightaware track that N26GP maintained runway heading (300) until around 7 nautical miles from the SJC VOR before they started to turn. Now why did they stay on the 300 heading, was it an instruction from Tower or maybe some confusion on the position of the overshooting ASA876 ?

By maintaining the 300 degree heading N26GP's track appeared to put them into conflict with traffic landing on runway 28R into KSFO. At time 16:45 on the KFSO-Final archive you can hear AAL881, a Boeing 737-800, report the Bridge in sight and then cleared to 4000, then 5 seconds later cleared for the visual runway 28R. Then at time 18:00, AAL881 reports they are responding to an RA (TCAS Resolution Advisory), then shortly after they are cleared to a heading 360 and cleared to 6000, then vectored around for another approach.

Back on the KJSC-DEP archive at time 19:30, N26GP is told to immediately maintain 4000 feet, then at 20:10, Departure advises N26GP of traffic at 11 o'clock and 4 miles at 4000 a westbound B737.

Speculation on my part, but I suspect that is the deviation ATC is talking about ?

JetScan1, your analysis makes sense - you obviously dug a lot deeper than I did! Without his actual clearance and departure instructions, it's still hard to tell exactly who messed up, but the additional info you found on the SFO feed helps fill in the blanks. Thanks for the good information!

Looking at the Flightaware track, N26GP went too far north before starting his turn back on the Loupe departure. Pilots are supposed to start their turn back on the Loupe departure at 1.8 DME from the SJC VOR and climb to a maximum of 5000 ft however ATC usually clears them to only 4000ft on departure. He climbed too high and went way too far before starting his turn.

I have to say, having spent a bit of time on both sides of the microphone, the Alaskan pilot was bordering on unprofessional. Things happen in ATC, single runway ops means they were maybe pushing things, and yes a couple of misjudgements. Or possibly the tower controller was just running it tight and the departing pilots were slow on the mark -- probably used to the dual runways at SJC and not expecting that kind of tight operation.

In any case there are ways to say it. The Alaskan guys just sounded churlish. "You're kidding" on frequency is not good airmanship. From that point, it would not have been clear to the controller if they were really short on patience or fuel. Better to says something like "need to get in next time or we will be getting low on fuel".

The don't-turn-in-too-tight stage was valid though, makes me think they might actually have been low on fuel. No point in haste-makes-waste on the third try.